File-Sharing Barons Face Day of Reckoning (moved from ATSNN)

Owners of File-Sharing programs, such as Michael Weiss, creator of the program known as, "Morpheus" are being shut down due to their illegal nature.
These programs allow users to illegally download music and other programs on to their computer. Hollywood studios and other various recording
companies are suing Michael Weiss for copyright infringement. Other file-sharing companies are also going to face court, part of the U.S. Supreme
Courts decision. The decision caused some of these companies to shut down. Though these companies programs may be shut down, some of the already
existent ones will remain alive, do to open-source networks.

news.yahoo.com
Weeks before the original Napster shut down for good in 2001, Internet users were flocking to alternative song-swapping programs. Nearly 20 million
people used Morpheus in its first four months, for example, to trade music and other files for free online. But the man behind Morpheus was worried.
Michael Weiss figured popularity could bring its own perils.

As he feared, the notoriety led Hollywood studios and recording companies to sue Weiss' StreamCast Inc. for copyright infringement. It was part of the
entertainment industry's wider effort to contain Morpheus and other Napster clones such as Kazaa and Grokster from taking up where Napster left
off.

Now, like Napster founder Shawn Fanning before them, Weiss and other file-sharing barons are facing their own day of reckoning after a landmark U.S.
Supreme Court decision last summer.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Well I think that these programs are not technically breaking the law, due to the fact that they do not "put" music into them, users download, and
publish the music themselves. The U.S. Supreme court wants to blame them, because they have provided the public with a means to break the law. They
are arresting the company because they can not arrest nearly 20 million users, some of which don't even use the program for illegal things.

Then they better sue the president of Miller Brewing Company for all the drunk driving deaths, the president of Phillip Morris for all the cancer, and
Winchester for making these "guns" that kill people.

Hollwood needs to realize that noone is going to pay 15 bucks for the pile excrement they want us to buy. The quality is gone. Their product sucks. I
hope these companies just move to some off shore island and keep going. Screw Hollywood. We aint payin!!

All good points mentioned apart from the fact that P2P programs such as Kazaa and iMesh are dinosaurs. The warez scene moved on at least 3 years ago,
they moved on to torrents. They can shut down these decrepit and inefficient P2P programs for all I care, at least it keeps them busy.

When they start coming after torrents with gusto they will also probably be 3 years behind the latest pirate technology. It's expensive enough trying
to keep up with technological advancements when you're only buying the end product. Trying to sue against technological advancements will eventually
bankrupt any firm, Sony, Disney, any company.

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